The Lions Club is looking to rebound in Salmon Arm.
A decade has passed since the Salmon Arm Lions Club packed it in due to a lack of membership and interest in continuing the community service club.
“We need a group of people that work together. We’ve only got four that get out and work and I am worn out," said former Salmon Arm club president John Lund in a December 2014 interview. “We’ve done a lot for a lot of people, so it’s something that’s going to be missed in the community for sure."
The Lions Club has a membership of more than 1.4 million people in more than 200 countries, and has clubs in communities throughout the North Okanagan-Shuswap, but not in Salmon Arm. However, Lions International and the local club zone are working to establish a new pride in Salmon Arm.
"This is actually the formation of a new club, to charter a new club," explained Sharon Cain, chair of Zone MD19-I-10 that includes clubs in Armstrong, Enderby and District, Lake Country-Winfield, Lumby and Vernon. "We did a community assessment and everyone we spoke to was very pleased we were coming with a Lions Club to Salmon Arm because we're a service club and we take care of things other organizations don't.
Cain said Lions Clubs have mandates around hunger, diabetes, childhood cancer, the environment and vision.
"Our main mandate is vision, and other clubs from our zone have been coming to Salmon Arm and doing the vision screening for all the schools for two years now, so it would be nice to have a club there and save a bit of travel from as far away as Vernon… so it would be kind of nice to have their own club for that," said Cain, adding club members provide annual screening for Kindergarten, Grade 3 and 6 students. "But more than that there are other things Lions Clubs do, and it's a personal thing for people as well because most people really enjoy it because we do projects that are fun to raise money to help these sort of things."
Cain stressed every dollar raised by Lions Clubs goes back to their respective communities, or to provide assistance on the global stage, for things such as disaster relief, through the Lions Clubs International Foundation. As an example, she said the club has contributed more than $80,000 in grants to replace the Scotch Creek Fire Hall that burned down in the 2023 Bush Creek East wildfire.
"All the fires around, we've provided funds," said Cain. "Actually, B.C. has received more back than we've ever contributed. That's a global project so everybody, every club donates to that to help with disasters: floods, fires, tornadoes, all those things."
Salmon Arm residents interested in being a part of a new Lions Club are welcome to attend an information session at the Salmon Arm legion from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23. Club members will also be setting up at the following locations from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in November to share information and spark local interest: Save-On-Foods, Thursday, Nov. 7; Mall at Piccadilly, Friday, Nov. 8; and Askew's Uptown, Saturday, Nov. 9.
For more information, contact Sharon Cain at 250-540-8270 or visit
